Sunday, July 31, 2011

The other day I was contemplating the mysteries of the universe and my brain landed upon the subject of writing a personal history. Have you written your personal history yet? I have often wished that I had journals of something of my ancestors so that I could know what their lives were like. Sure, I can go to history books ( or google different time periods) and find out what was happening in their lifetimes, but having a personal record would be so much nicer! I find that I would hate to leave this world without giving my kids a little something about their mom. At least, they will find out that "yes, I was young once!" and "yes, I do know how you feel."
Getting started is the hard part, at least for most people. The task seems so overwhelming. Here is a link that gives some ideas and other links to help you get started. Find your own personal style and write, write, write!

P.S. Check out Geneabloggers Radio Program #27 from this past Friday night. The topic was Your Story Matters – Capturing Your Personal Family History

Friday, July 29, 2011

Does the mention of Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, etc. set you on edge? Do you wish that all of this social fluff would go away so you could do some real genealogy? Well, guess what? Going "social" with genealogy is important in the 21st century! Technology has brought us so many new ways to do genealogy and to connect with records and relatives! Sure, we still have snail mail and trips to the dusty old courthouses, but technology is giving us new options to connect. Not sure how to do it? Feeling out of your comfort zone? Do you need someone to hold your hand? The LDS Church has now provided someone to guide you through the learning curve in a new research class called "Going Social with Genealogy!" The class is 31 minutes long and has both audio, video, and a resource handout. So how about a date "going social" this Friday night?

Saturday, July 23, 2011

BYU's desktop at the FHL has added a new link that is exciting! Take a look at the 4th link down under Navigation and you will see the title "What Do You Want to Do." You will also see that in the new blue box on the right hand side.

Look under "Search Pioneer Companies." When you click on the link, it will ask you for the name you are searching. You can also search by company if you know this or the year involved. This is what I found for my William Gimbert Saunders...

Now I can read about this ancestor. Also note under the sources that there is a link to read a trail excerpt. Cool, huh!

There is so much more to this desktop that all I can say is GO PLAY WITH IT! Maybe you will be able to knock down a brick wall with specific sources listed that you didn't know about or that you didn't know how to access!. Isn't the Internet wonderful?

Friday, July 22, 2011

This is from FamilySearch...

FamilySearch Adds 12 Million New Records and Images This Week

The England and Mexico Collections Contain the Lion’s Share of the New Additions

19 July 2011

The recent collection updates at FamilySearch.org are too diverse to summarize—seigniorial and notarial records, bishop’s transcripts and parish registers, citizen lists, court case files—you get the picture. The largest collection updates this week are from England and Mexico—eight million records and images between the two countries’ collections. Another 4 million records and images were added for Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Italy, South Africa, Sweden, USA, and Wales. Search the records online now at FamilySearch.org. See the list below for more details.

FamilySearchInternational is the largest genealogy organization in the world. FamilySearch is a nonprofit, volunteer–driven organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter–day Saints. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch has been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years. Patrons may access FamilySearch services and resources free online atFamilySearch.orgor through over 4,600 family history centers in 132 countries, including the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

I was cruising around some genealogy blogs today and found something that I thought was awe inspiring! I just had to share it with you! Go to AAAGeneaology to read the background for this beautiful quilt!

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Did you know that FamilySearch has it's own channel on YouTube? Yep, it does! There are lots of videos on different aspects of family history and genealogy. There are also some really cute kids who explain to us what family history is. For example, this one!

Monday, July 11, 2011

Do you ever wonder what BYU's Conference on Family History and Geneaolgy is all about? Steven Kapp Perry of the Cricket and Seagull Fireside Chats sat down and talked to John Best about this conference. Listen to the interview here! Click on the line below the picture that says, "listen to this weeks podcast."

Saturday, July 2, 2011

The next regular, second-Saturday-of-the-month meeting of the Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group - UVTAGG (Formerly the Utah Valley PAF Users Group - UVPAFUG) will be on Saturday, 9 Jul 2011, from 9 am to noon in the LDS "Red Chapel", 4050 North Timpview Drive (650 East), Provo. Information about the Group, main presentations, classes, and class notes are available on their website http://uvtagg.org and the press releases are at http://blog.uvpafug.org/ . With the organization's name change, these URL's will also be changed eventually.

The main presentation for this meeting will be by David E. Rencher on FAMILYSEARCH PRODUCTS AND FEATURES. FamilySearch continues to make a wide variety of products and services available to genealogists throughout the world. This presentation highlights the many uses of these new products from the view of the Chief Genealogical Officer at FamilySearch. David E. Rencher, AG, CG, FIGRS, FUGA, is employed by the Family History Department in Salt Lake City as the Chief Genealogical Officer for FamilySearch. A professional genealogist since 1977, he is an Accredited GenealogistCM with ICAPGenSM in Ireland research and a Certified GenealogistSM with the Board for Certification of Genealogists®. He is the Irish course coordinator and instructor for the Samford University Institute of Genealogical and Historical Research (IGHR) in Birmingham, Alabama. He graduated from Brigham Young University in 1980 with a BA in Family and Local History. He is a past-president of the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) 1997-2000, a national genealogical society umbrella organization, a past-president of the Utah Genealogical Association (UGA) 1993-1995 and a Fellow of that organization. He is a fellow of the Irish Genealogical Research Society, London and is a vice-president of the Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU). He is currently serving as the Chair of the joint Federation of Genealogical Societies and National Genealogical Society committee for Record Preservation and Access and serves as the Secretary for the Federation of Genealogical Societies, and as trustee for the Umpstead, Jr. and Elizabeth Jemima Philpott Rencher and the Winslow Farr, Sr. Family Organizations. There is further information about him online at http://www.apgen.org/directory/search_detail.html?mbr_id=176 .

Following the main presentation there will be several classes about family history and technology with something for everyone at any level of expertise.

All meetings of the Group are open to the public whether members of the Group or not. The Users Group has the goal of helping individuals use technology to further their family history and there are usually 100-125 attending the monthly meetings on the second Saturdays. The officers are Gerhard Ruf, President; Laurie Castillo, 1st VP; Don Snow, 2nd VP; Liz Kennington, Newsletter Editor; Kay Baker, Gerry Eliason, and Don Engstrom working with finances and membership; and Bruce Merrill and Marie Andersen, working with the DVD Library. Several of these will be there to answer questions, help with membership, distribute the current issue of the monthly newsletter, and check out DVDs of past presentations and classes to members of the group. Information about the Group, presentations, classes, and class notes can be found at the websites mentioned above. For further information contact President Gerhard Ruf at pres@uvpafug.org (801-225-6106) or 1st VP Laurie Castillo at laurie@everythingisrelative.net, or 2nd VP Don Snow at snowd@math.byu.edu.